Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: Termination of guarantor form

You cannot unilaterally withdraw from a lease guarantee, unless the lease specifically contains a provision which allows you to do so (extremely rare that it would contain such a provision). At this point, you are probably on a month-to-month tenancy with the landlord (unless the lease was more than two years), so you can give a 30 day notice that you plan to vacate the premises, however, your daughter would have to actually leave for it to be effective. If she doesn't leave at the end of the 30 days, then you are back to square one, being sued as the guarantor for her failure to pay rent and/or vacate the premises.

Your best option is to go to the landlord and ask him to qualify your daughter as the sole responsible person on the lease, have him draft a new lease with her as the only party aside from the landlord, but he's going to want to know that she will be able to perform under the lease without your help. He may want to run her credit and/or verify employment and ensure that she actually makes enough to pay the rent. You're in a pretty bad situation unless the landlord will agree to let you off the hook. Whatever you do, make sure its in writing, and it should probably be reviewed by an attorney to make sure its done properly. Good luck.

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